Social TV and Film

nearly half of smartphone owners (46%) and tablet owners (43%) said they use their devices as second screens while watching TV every day. And more than two-thirds of tablet and smartphone owners said they used these second screens multiple times a week during Q1 2013.

Among tablet owners, general Web searches (76%) and general Web browsing (68%) are still among the top second-screen activities. But consumers are also using second screens for activities that are directly related to the content they’re viewing, as almost half of tablet owners look up information about what they’re watching.

To Intel, and to some analysts, the behavior by the existing distributors — in some cases giving financial incentives to friendly channel owners, in other cases including punitive measures in contracts — has an anticompetitive whiff. The antitrust division of the Justice Department is looking into the issue as part of a broad investigation into cable and satellite company practices,

Each time the show goes to commercial, viewers following the TV broadcast with their computer, iPad or smartphone handy will be able to unlock unique content related to the finale’s plot that adds new dimensions to the story. (An on-screen prompt will read “The story continues now at CBC.ca/ArcticAir.”)

CBC’s goal is to reward the audience with a “transmedia storytelling event” that happens in tandem with the live broadcast.

provides more information on the characters, their motivations and elements that won’t be seen on TV.

The one new nugget here is a Hastings prediction, held by many other people, that we’re moving to a world where “apps replace channels.”

“Existing networks, such as ESPN and HBO, that offer amazing apps will get more viewing than in the past, and be more valuable. Existing networks that fail to develop first-class apps will lose viewing and revenue.”

there’s room for lots of streaming video services, just like there are lots of cable channels today.

Among the most common is shopping for a product seen in an ad, by 19.4% of TV watchers who engage in second-screen activities.

That’s behind only learning about an actor/actress (29.8%) and learning about the show/movie (23.1%). The researchers note that shopping for products is most prevalent among laptop users and consumers in the 35-49 age group, and that “converting viewers into impulse shoppers has big potential impact for advertisers.”

Not too far behind the top tier of activities is discussing a show on a social networking site, cited by 14.8% of respondents. That’s a figure worth watching closely – as social TV has the potential to increase engagement. A just-released neuroscience study from MEC and Channel Seven in Australia discovered that interacting with social media while watching TV drove a 9% increase in program engagement among study participants, and that second-screen interaction aided recall of specific elements of the broadcast.

Boxee rebranded its box from Boxee TV to Boxee Cloud DVR and changed the services it offers.

“Our pitch to them is if we move the DVR to the cloud, we can do dynamic ad insertion, so instead of losing the ability to monetize that audience if they’re watching a week later or binge viewing if they’ve recorded the entire season, if you could serve fresh ads whenever somebody is watching it … that is a better way to monetize DVR.”

ed us to believe the future of TV is not apps, it’s the experience and the content.”